to our ROPEHOLDERS

CARPENTRY CLASS

2026-04-19T06:24:00.000-05:00

Our boys are making tables in the carpentry class to help support the orphanage

NEW SEWING MACHINES

2026-03-26T15:27:00.002-05:00

Happy days for our vocational school tailoring class! New sewing machines and fabric. Thank you God and thanks also to those who donated. We are hoping to get our school going again

NEW KITCHEN

2026-03-15T08:42:00.000-05:00

Our orphanage kitchen is not yet totally complete, but it is coming along nicely. Much better than the three-rock campfire on a dirt floor kitchen that we had when I first visited

WATER !

2026-02-21T08:26:00.001-06:00

It's been a long time coming with several setbacks, but finally we had enough funds to install a pump into our deep borehole well powered by a solar panel array.

We still need to put up a water tank tower so that the water will be available not only for the orphanage, but for the people of the village.

NEW REQUIREMENTS FOR OUR KITCHEN

2025-07-17T21:18:00.002-05:00

From the time that we began this orphanage, we have been careful to always follow the government recommendations and instructions in all of our buildings and actions.

We have now been informed that we need to build a new kitchen to meet government standards.

Below is also a photo of the kitchen that we have been using, which I actually thought was a good one, but now we will be building a new one. Estimated cost - about $2500

Thanks for your prayers!

NEW CHURCH AT IGORERA

2025-06-22T08:29:00.003-05:00

We have a new group of believers in the village of Igorera in Kisii. As you can see, they have no building yet, but meet in a grove of small Eucalyptus trees.

Please pray for these new believers as they begin their lives with Jesus.

To learn more about this work in Kisii, Kenya, please go to www.mipod.org

NEW PLACE OF WORSHIP BEING BUILT IN SENGERA

2025-06-13T17:26:00.001-05:00

Sengera is the site of the main church, which is in the same village as the orphanage. A few months ago, the church was offered a lot on the main road and near to the market area if they would build a new church there.

The Sengera church has grown in numbers so rapidly that since I began visiting there in 2017, they had already needed to build a larger place of worship, but they soon grew out of that one as well. Now, a larger one was needed again.

The first two buildings were of mud construction, but now, for the new building, they are pouring columns and beams to make a long-lasting structure. It appears to be a large building. That is good, since they have about 450 attendees each Sunday.

Please pray for this church along with the four other churches that have grown out of this one.

PROGRESS AT THE NYAMIOBO CHURCH

2025-06-06T19:46:00.003-05:00

The brothers at our Nyamiobo church had put up the framework for a place of worship, but had no money to buy the tin sheets. We praise God that a family has now donated enough money to purchase the sheets!

Thank you Jesus!

Meanwhile, the work for the church building at our main church near the orphanage continues. Many people are dedicating their lives to the Lord. We are thankful for what He is doing

Please visit www.mipod.org to learn about the work in Kenya

OUR TAILORING CLASS

2025-05-30T21:26:00.000-05:00

The kids at our orphanage are learning tailoring well. Since cloth is so “dear,” they are practicing by using some packaging material. They presently have one treadle sewing machine, and one hand crank.

Our vocational instruction classes are still operating with limited resources, but we praise God for what He has allowed us to do!

THE LOG CHURCH AT NYAMIOBO, KISII KENYA

2025-05-01T21:09:00.000-05:00

The members of the Log Church in Nyamiobo in Kisii Kenya have erected the framework for a church building and are now praying for the metal sheeting

NEW CHURCH BUILDING

2025-04-07T21:54:00.000-05:00

Our church in Kenya just keeps growing. What began as one group of believers near the orphanage, has now become four churches with the other three in other villages.

The church near the orphanage has already grown out of two buildings. Those first two were made of waddle and daub (woven sticks, plastered with mud). But with the growth of the church in the village, they have now been given a piece of property near the market, where they are presently building a true building with cement columns and brick.

We praise God for this gift of land, and the opportunity to have a building that will be more accessible.

The children of the orphanage are helping with this construction. They are carrying water from the river and helping to mix and pour the cement.

OUR VOCATIONAL SCHOOL CARPENTRY CLASS

2025-03-29T18:51:00.003-05:00

Our carpentry teacher for the vocation school at the orphanage has been away on a job for a few weeks, but he has now returned, and our carpentry class has resumed. I am very encouraged about our vocational school. It is teaching our kids real practical and lifelong skill that can help them in their lives.

They tell me that they lack tools to advance further, but we are very thankful for the tools that we have, and as you can see, they appear to be doing a great job with the tools available to them.

Please continue to pray for these kids. It is not only the vocational school, but we still have many children in the local primary and secondary schools.

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If you would like to help with the various projects and needs of the orphanage, please go to http://mipod.org learn how. Thanks so much. God bless you!

GROWING KALE

2025-03-22T08:59:00.003-05:00

Perhaps you do not grow much kale in your garden. I must admit the fact that I do not grow it in my garden. But kale is an important part of the diet of the orphans. They first establish it in shaded nursery beds, then transplant it in the garden.

As of yet, all watering is done by water carried up on the shoulders of the kids from the river. We have a borehole, but as of yet, we have not been able to purchase the pump and other equipment.

Kale there can grow tall, as you can see by this photo taken a couple of years ago of me standing in a field of kale. The bottom leaves are taken for food, and the top continues to grow more leaves.

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If you would like to help with this work in supporting our orphanage in Kenya, please go to https://mipod.org

OUR WELDING STUDENTS ADVANCE IN THEIR SKILLS

2025-02-28T21:05:00.007-06:00

To the best that we are able to do at this time, we continue with our vocational classes in tailoring, carpentry, and as you can see below, in our welding class. We are able to continue thanks to the gracious volunteering of the teachers. When we no longer had the funding to pay them, they volunteered their services. They did not want the students to forget what they had been taught.

The students in the welding class have advanced to the point that they have developed skills necessary to fabricate some items (such as the door in this video). They now can make these items on their own, without guidance from the teacher.

It is a true joy to see how these kids are enthusiastic in their work, all to the praise of God.

Concerning payment for the teachers, a few weeks ago (February 7), I put a post on this blog about the tailoring class. We are very thankful that we lately have been able to give that teacher some payment.

We praise God for what He is doing, and we know that He will continue with these kids.

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If you would like to help out with the work in the orphanage, please go to http://mipod.org to find out more.

MILK WITH A LITTLE TEA

2025-02-21T15:33:00.002-06:00

Our milk cows are part of both our education for the kids, and to provide some milk. Of course, two cows cannot provide enough milk for 70+ people who are eating at the orphanage. But milk for tea!

Everyone in Kenya, both adults and kids, love their tea. It also helps that the hills of Kisii are covered with tea gardens!

(This is the way that farmers and milkmaids got the cows to let down their milk

in several countries where I have worked. First, they let the calf suck

to get the milk started, then take the calf away and milk the cow)

Of course, being a former colony of England, they drink it English style—with lots of milk. I got introduced to this way of drinking tea (and kind of got hooked on it) when I lived in India.

We currently have two cows that are milking at the orphanage. Together, they give about 10 litres per day. I don’t know how much milk this gives when divided among 70+ cups, but we’re so thankful!

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If you would like to help out with our orphanage, please go to https://mipod.org to find out more

OUR GARDEN PROJECT

2025-02-14T12:50:00.000-06:00

For some time, we have been working to develop food sources for the kids of the orphanage. On previous blogs, you have seen the poultry and the dairy projects. Long ago, we also began a vegetable garden. With all of these projects, our greatest limiting factor is lack of land.

The chickens and the cows can be fed from outside sources. For instance, the children go out to cut napier grass to be fed to the cows, and other greens and mash for the chickens. But food from the garden can be grown only on what little land is in the owned by the orphanage.

But here are some videos that demonstrate what the kids are doing. So far, we do not have a pump for the borehole, so watering the plants is done with water carried on the shoulders of the kids from deep in a valley. The banana leaves are used to preserve the soil moisture.

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If you would like to help, please go to mipod.org to learn how

OUR VOCATIONAL TAILORING CLASS

2025-02-07T19:56:00.001-06:00

Although our vocational school has been on hold for several weeks, the instructors have volunteered to teach for one day a week so that the students do not lose the skills that they are learning.

One of these, John Momanyi, is the teacher who is giving lessons in sewing clothes. Tailoring is a skill that is useful, since most of the clothing is individually made. Contrary to our situation in the US, tailor-made clothing is much less expensive than clothes that one buys in the stores.

John has been very helpful to our students is a tailor who has a business at the market. He reportedly is a very good teacher and well liked by the kids of the orphanage. We are also praying for this John’s business as well, as he is in need of a better machine.

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If you would like to help with this vocational class for the kids, please visit mipod.org for more information, Thanks so much!

THE NEW SCHOOL YEAR

2025-01-25T11:10:00.001-06:00

We are thankful that God has provided that our orphan kids can attend school this year. In Kenya, the school year begins in January and ends in December, with some weeks of holiday between school terms.

Of course we do not yet have funding for the entire year, but if what God has done for the past 8 years since we began this orphanage is any indication, He will again provide.

Frankly, this past year has been a year of severe trials for us, and we were considering skipping a year of government school and simply concentrating on the vocational school that we have begun. Our training in the vocational school is intended to prepare our kids for life outside of the orphanage as working adults.

But the government of Kenya requires all school-aged
children to attend both the primary and secondary education. The truth is, not all kids do, especially in our area where the orphanage is located. Many families simply do not have money to send their kids.

But praise God! Our kids are again in school this year!

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If you would like to have a part in helping these kids, please visit mipod.org to learn more

OUR POULTRY PROJECT

2025-01-17T09:06:00.004-06:00

We have had to curtail some of our vocational school courses because of lack of finances, but we do not want to completely stop them, since we have already put a lot of effort into training our kids for some type of work where they can earn a living.

Even the teachers whom we had hired for the courses do not want to stop completely. At the present, we cannot pay them, but they have volunteered to teach their respective classes on one day each week so that the kids to not forget what they have learned.

Along with the small dairy that we began, we also have chickens. These are not for slaughter, but for egg production to help with the food budget. Presently, we have 26 chickens in the flock.

We did have more – 56, but during a period of food shortage, we had to sell 30 of them to buy some food. For the 30 chickens, we received 18,000 Kenya Shillings, which is something like US$ 139. We feed 76 people at each meal, so that was enough to buy two small meals for each person. That is only 91 cents per person/meal. A good meal actually costs more than that, but this was able to sustain the kids and staff for a bit. Thankfully, God soon sent more resources to buy more food.

We praise God for all things. He is beginning to bring us out a very difficult period. We continue to trust him for all things.

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If you would like to help in this work of the orphanage and vocational school, please visit our website, mipod.org to learn more

THE KENYA ORPHANAGE - TIME TO GET BACK ON THE ROAD

2025-01-10T11:25:00.001-06:00

I have not posted about our Kenya orphanage for a while, and I apologize for that. It has been a trying couple of months for me, both in regard to the orphanage in Kenya and at the church in the US where I am pastor. As a result, our transition for the oversight of the orphanage to the new mission organization has hit a few bumps in the road, but the road crew has been out fixing some of the potholes, and we are again moving forward.

Nevertheless, our forward progress has been slowed by some of the events that have come upon us, and we are limited to what realistic goals can be accomplished in the short term. In many regards, we are back to the point where we were when we began this orphanage—simply trusting God for food and enough funding to pay the school fees for the children.

Food security has been an issue from the beginning and will continue to be. In the past, we established the vegetable garden, but realistically speaking, we could never grow enough food in the garden with the very limited land area that we have.

Our New "Cow House"

We have now also begun a small-scale livestock project with chickens and cows. We praise God for this opportunity both to have another source for food/income, and also to teach the kids some basics of animal husbandry.

Gathering Napier Fodder for the Cows

I am excited especially about the cows, since those of you who know me personally also know that I have my own small herd of cows.

Please continue to pray for this work. It has not been without difficulties and even enemies, but I can never abandon these kids whom the Lord has rescued from the world and to whom He called me to help and minister. Thanks so much.

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If you would like to donate to this work, please go to the website www.mipod.org for payment options.

Thanks so much and God bless you!

LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION

2024-11-11T15:37:00.003-06:00

At the very beginning, I suspected a scam. I told them so.

About 9 years ago, I began trading emails with a pastor in Kenya who read my sermons on this blog site. He would ask me questions and also send me notes on his sermons. I was happy to share thoughts with him, but inwardly there was always a little hint of suspicion.

“I wonder how long it will be until he asks me for money?”

That day did eventually come, and I immediately was on my guard. He told me of the need for an orphanage in his village. “So many street kids living in garbage heaps,” he said.

Like I said, I was on my guard and told him of my belief that it was all a scam. But there was also the Holy Spirit talking to me. Even with this, it took a year of me refusing to listen to that inward prodding from God before I finally went to see if what the pastor told me was correct. I went and saw, and we began the orphanage in 2017.

The entire affair is a very long story, but since beginning the orphanage, someone occasionally still asks me how I know that it is not a scam. Usually the inquiry is in a polite way from someone who simply wants to know. But once in a while, it is less of a question and more of an accusation, saying that I am part of a scam.

This has come to me recently. It has caused me (once again) to demonstrate the veracity of this work of helping these kids. Despite these attacks, I am happy for the children that we have helped over the years and have gotten to know from trips to Kenya to see them.

Once again seeing the need to defend the ministry, I asked the various government agencies who oversee the work there for letters of recommendation. They are posted below:

Letter from Chief David (the local chief)

Letter from Department of Children's Serices from Sub County Gucha

Letter from Kisii County Children Director

THE NEED FOR WATER

2024-06-28T20:48:00.002-05:00

This is how the children have fetched the water for use in the orphanage. We do have a water collection system from the roofs of the buildings, but it does not often provide enough for all of the needs.

You will notice that the water is not very clean, but we are in the final stages of being able to dig a well to get clean water.

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IN THE IMAGE OF GOD'S DOMINION - THE LOG CHURCH SERMON, OCT 22

2023-10-22T13:12:00.001-05:00

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:26-27 ESV)

It is a marvelous thing that we have been created by God. And as we saw last week in the sermon, it is even more marvelous that as he continues to form us. He is constantly helping us in our lives. In the verses above, we see yet another important aspect of what God has given us.

Absolutely the most amazing aspect of what God has done, is the fact that when he created us, he created us in his image. We have been made in the very image of God. This is mentioned twice in the verses above.

Last week I talked about how impossible it is for us to envision exactly how the creation of the first man and woman took place. This impossibility for us is accentuated when we try to think of the significance and all of the implications of what it means to be created in the image of God. Any explanation that we can give of this phrase must fall far short of an accurate portrayal of what is meant by this astounding fact.

The Image of God

Certainly we can draw some suppositions. The fact that we are actually spiritual in essence must have something to do with the fact that we have been created in the image of God, since as Jesus told the woman at the well, “God is Spirit.” But we are not only spiritual beings. There is more to who we are.

We also have an intellectual aspect about us, as does God. And like God, we are relational in our nature. Despite whatever difficulty or frustrations we have with other people, most of us cannot happily exist without having others in our lives.

We are also creative. The fact we have a desire to create must have something to do with being made in God’s image. It is true that we do not have the ability to call into existence something out of nothing, but we each have a creative streak within us. Whether it is in art, inventiveness, music or literary composition, or in a host of other ways, each of us like to make something with our own hands or our imagination.

Another thing about being created in the image of God is that we have a moral code that is instilled within us. All humans, no matter what society or age in which they live, have an innate sense of actions that are right and those that are wrong. Certainly these norms can be corrupted and even changed by a prevailing culture, but absolutely everyone has some sort of standard to which they appeal in order to justify their actions.

All of these aspects have to do with being created in the image of God. Nevertheless, at the original creation, God spoke of none of these. Rather, he referred to yet another aspect of the image of God.

Dominion

Reading again the words of God: “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness, to rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, and over all the earth itself and every creature that crawls upon it.”

We can see that when God spoke of man being in his image, he linked it directly to dominion. At least in the context of this verse, and quoting God at the very dawn of history, he gave man the role of presiding over all the living creatures on earth, and even over the earth itself.

The notion that humans are above nature is becoming increasingly unpopular in our day. The trend in thinking today is that the earth itself is dominant, and humans are merely one of the creatures who inhabit the planet.

No doubt part of the reason for this thinking has stemmed from the fact that we historically have done such an atrocious job in caring for our environment. We have polluted and ruined, we have taken greedily and not given back, and we have lived without regard to what damage we were doing to our natural world.

Certainly these attitudes are part of the reason for the growing belief in the supremacy of nature, but it is not the entire reason. This perspective and its reasoning goes deeper than that.

The primary reason that this belief is becoming prevalent is because of what we have allowed the image of God within us to become. We have not only done an atrocious job in caring for our environment, but we have done an even worse job in maintaining the reflection of God in our lives. The very image of God within us has become corrupted.

God created us in his image, but just as we have done to our environment itself, we have contaminated God’s image within us and infected it with sin. We have abused our reflection of God and lived as if we were not responsible for our actions and as if there would be no day of reckoning.

What Happened

So what has happened to God’s original plan? How is it that we have strayed so far from what God intended, and why has the image of God within us become so tarnished?

According to what the Apostle Paul teaches, it is because we as a human race have not merely ignored the teachings of God, but we have even suppressed them. I quote from Romans 1:18-20:

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness. For what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood from His workmanship, so that men are without excuse (BSB).

Job, the man of ancient days, told us that among all of God’s creatures, it is we alone as men and women who do not recognize God as the creator and sustainer of life.

Job says, “But now ask the beasts, and let them teach you; and the birds of the heavens, and let them tell you. Or speak to the earth, and let it teach you; and let the fish of the sea declare to you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this, in whose hand is the life of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind?” (Job 12:7-10 NAS)

How is it that every other creature recognizes the sovereignty of God, but we do not? It is said of no other creature other than humans that they have been endowed with the image of God. Seeing that this is so, and contrary to what we might expect, it is also said of no other creature that they have rejected the knowledge of God.

But humans, the very ones who have been given the image of God, have rejected this knowledge. Why is this so?

The Rejection

The rejection has primarily happened because humans have attempted to usurp the authority of God and to become their own authority. Again, the roots of this go way back to the Garden of Eden.

Originally, the environment that God gave to Adam and Eve was a perfect environment, and his image within them was untarnished. In God’s love for those that he created in his image, he gave to them the responsibility to care for it. This is shown to us in the form of the naming of the animals. God did not name the animals, but instead brought each before Adam so that the man could give them a name.

The act of naming the animals is more than a cute Bible story we tell our Sunday School class. God did this to demonstrate that the man was to be responsible for the animals. It is only the person that is responsible to care for someone or something who also has the right to give these a name. It is not the grandparents that name the grandchildren (as much as they may want to do this), but rather it is the parents of the children. It is the parents of the children who are responsible for their lives.

God gave names to Adam and Eve, but to Adam was given the task of naming the animals. The animals of the earth were under man’s dominion.

But then Satan entered the picture. Satan introduced the first man and woman to the concept of discontent—something that they before had not known. He convinced Adam and Eve that God was holding out on them and that they could have more. Because of the doubts that Satan placed within them, for the first time Adam and Eve were dissatisfied with their lives.

Tempting Eve with the very fruit that God had warned them not to eat, Satan told her, “For God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Just as Satan himself had rebelled against the authority of God and had lost his own state of existence that he before had known as one of God’s own angels, he is now attempting to beguile the first humans to do the same. Since it was to man that God gave dominion over the earth, if Satan is successful in his trickery, it would then be him, Satan, who will then have the entire creation of the earth under his influence.

Remember, the man and the woman held the authority of the earth and all of its creatures. If Satan could put these first people under his spell, then what was given to them would then be transferred to him. It would then be Satan who would hold the authority over all the earth.

Of course we know what happened. Satan twisted the words that God had spoken and tempted Adam and Eve with the thought that they could become equal to God. In other words—they would become gods themselves.

In the book of Romans, Paul explains what happened, not only to Adam and Eve, but to the human race in general:

For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and darkened in their foolish hearts. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images of mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. (Romans 1:21-23 BSB)

It was at that point, at the first rebellion against the authority of God, that we as a human race began to devalue the image of God. Our worship instead began to be focused on ourselves, which eventually began to be a worship of creation itself, instead of the Creator.

Or as Paul put it: “[We] exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is forever worthy of praise! (Romans 1:25)

Thus, the image of God that he had placed within us became corrupted by our rebellious and faulty thinking. We became confused in our priorities, ignorant of the eternal truth, and condemned to live with constant discontentedness.

What God Did

Seeing that this was the state of existence that we had brought upon ourselves, what could God do to reestablish our former condition? Of course he could continue to speak to us, attempting to convincing us of his truth—which he did in fact did do. But our understanding of truth had been so corrupted by the lie of Satan that most refused to recognize it.

Historically, in many ways God attempted to bring us back to him. He gave us his commandments, which although he knew that we could never obey completely, at least gave us a vision for how his righteousness functioned. He also sent prophets to speak his truth. They were either ignored, mocked, persecuted or stoned to death.

Finally, God Himself returned. He returned in the person of Jesus Christ, who was also called “the Son of God.”

The Image of God Incarnate

The writer of the New Testament book of Hebrews explained the coming of Jesus by saying, “On many past occasions and in many different ways, God spoke to our fathers through the prophets. But in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son…[Who] is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His nature” (Hebrews 1:1-3 BSB).

I also again quote Paul the apostle, since he has written much on this subject. Speaking of the person of Jesus, Paul says,

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in Him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things were created through Him and for Him.

He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and firstborn from among the dead, so that in all things He may have preeminence. (Colossians 1:15-18 BSB)

With the arrival of Jesus to earth, born of a human mother as we are, yet also retaining the nature of his eternal divinity, we have the perfect image of God demonstrated to us in human form. Jesus Christ is God’s most perfect message to us. The Apostle John even calls him the very “Word of God.”

“The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14 BSB).

How Satan has Hidden the Image of God from Us

Of course, Satan did everything in his power to cause this most perfect message of God to fail. Since Jesus had come in the form of a man, Satan at first believed that he could use similar temptations on the Son of God that he used on other men. As if Jesus was merely another man, the Devil tempted him with riches and power. Of course he had no success. Unlike Adam and Eve did in the face of the temptation from Satan, Jesus sent him away (Matthew 4:1-11).

Failing that, Satan then attempted to hide the message and the image of God from the people of the world. In this on the other hand, Satan has had considerable success. The message of Christ has largely been lost to most people in all the noise of trivial pursuits that the world under Satan’s control puts before us.

Paul writes that “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Corinthians 4:4).

“Their minds were closed,” he says.

Paul describes what Satan did as placing a veil over the faces of the unbelievers so that they could not see the truth that God had spent centuries in attempting to communicate to the world. This truth of God’s was demonstrated in all of his messages, beginning with the commandments and the prophets of the Old Testament. Despite the many methods that God has used to try and break through our blindness, in every instance and with a great number of people, Satan was able to hide the truth of God.

People were blinded. A veil had been placed in front of their eyes.

The Image of God Restored in Men and Women

There is only one solution for the “lifting of this veil” so that the truth can be seen: “Only in Christ can it be removed…whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away,” Paul says (2 Corinthians 3:14,16).

It is with the lifting of this veil that we ourselves are transformed. Paul continues, “And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into His image with intensifying glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18 BSB).

When Christ comes into our lives and we begin to listen to the words of God, we begin to see through the tricks and deceits of the devil. The inconsequential pastimes of the world no longer hold our attention. Our vision becomes clearer.

Did you notice that Paul speaks of an intensifying glory? Once the knowledge of the true Savior Jesus Christ has lifted the veil from in front of our eyes, his image in us is awakened. Our vision of what is important becomes increasingly clearer. With our new clarity of sight, we are no longer condemned to live in a state of discontent, listening to and heeding the lies of Satan.

“Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Corinthians 3:17).

In Christ, the awakened image of God within us begins to transform us with an intensifying glory. Perhaps the change comes slowly at first, but for all who truly know Christ, God is at work within them. He is renewing and forming us into his image as he did in the beginning at the creation (Romans 8:29).

Pressing On Toward the Goal

For the one who follows the Word, Jesus Christ, all of life has a forward movement. Concerning the image of God within us, we presently may not yet be where we want to be in our lives, but we have promises and we have a goal.

This was Paul’s summary of his life. Speaking of his life in Christ, he wrote to the Philippian church,

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.

Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize of God’s heavenly calling in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:12-14 BSB)

Just as in Paul’s testimony about his life, neither have any of us already attained or arrived where we want to be in our lives. But taking a clue from Paul, we forget all those ways of the past in which we have followed Satan and the world, and concentrate on looking straight ahead on the path that Jesus has laid out before us. Jesus has dealt with those past sins and our past rebellion. We need not trouble ourselves with them any longer.

Paul also wrote:

Once you were alienated from God and were hostile in your minds because of your evil deeds. But now He has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy, unblemished, and blameless in His presence—if indeed you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope of the gospel you heard (Colossians 1:21-23 BSB).

Do not allow Satan to have dominion in your life. The goal is before you. That is where our attention should be centered.

And what is the goal? I think John summarizes it the best: “Beloved, now we are God’s children, and what we will be has not yet appeared. But we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2).

LEARNING HOW TO DIE SO THAT WE CAN KNOW HOW TO LIVE - THE LOG CHURCH SERMON, SEPTEMBER 3

2023-10-01T17:10:00.001-05:00

As Jesus and his disciples were leaving the upper room where they met on the night before his crucifixion. he told them this:

I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.

Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it, that it may bear more fruit. (John 15:1-2 NAS)

When he spoke these words, Jesus and the disciples had apparently already left the room to go to the Garden of Gethsemane, but we are not told if this small group was talking as they were walking on their way to the garden, or perhaps sitting for a few moments someplace on the way. I picture them walking, and actually passing through a vineyard. Jesus was using the vines and the grapes as a teaching tool.

Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch, and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. (John 15:4-6 NAS)

If you look at those words closely, you will of course see that Jesus speaks of vines and branches and fruit, but do you notice another word that is repeated often in those four sentences? It is the word “abide.”

“Abide in Me.” “Abide in the vine.” “Abide in Me, and I in you.”

The usage of this word has become almost archaic in our English language. It means “to live,” of course, as in “where one lives – where one abides.” But the word abide as Jesus uses it also has a deeper connotation. He speaks not only of where you go after your day’s work is done and where you sleep at night. To abide means more than meaning “home is the place where you hang your hat.”

When Jesus is using the word abide, he is speaking of something much greater. He is referring to a place from where you draw your strength for living. He is speaking of the very source of daily living.

When Jesus speaks of abiding in him, he is referring to a relationship so intimate that we draw our very life-force from him, just as a branch of a vine draws its strength from the vine growing out of the earth.

As I mentioned, Jesus spoke these words to his disciples some time after they had left the upper room and before they arrived at the Garden of Gethsemane. It was in that garden where he would soon be betrayed by Judas and then arrested.

You will remember that it was only moments before Jesus gave this teaching, that he was in the upper room. It was in that room where he shared his last supper on earth with his disciples and when he gave the teachings of the meaning of what has come to be called “The Lord’s Supper,” or “Communion.”

Central to the teaching of the Lord’s Supper is the concept of abiding in Christ. When Jesus took the bread, broke it and shared it among his disciples, he told them, “Take, eat; this is My body.” It was the same with the wine, when Jesus said, “Drink from it, all of you; for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:27-27 NAS).

Apart from any additional teachings that we might glean from the words of Jesus, it is clear that the Holy Communion is meant to demonstrate that the Christian life is one in which Christ must abide in us. The act of taking into our very beings what Christ calls his body and his blood demonstrates the truth that in order to be followers of Christ, we are to be united in Him. We abide in Him, and he in us.

Cut Off

But Jesus not only speaks of the branches that abide in him, but also the branches that do not abide in him. With these, he must have had in mind those who followed him not in order to live their lives in Christ or to draw their nourishment from him, but who rather only made a show of following him for some other purpose, for some other reason of their own.

For example, Judas Iscariot was a follower of Jesus. He was even numbered as one of the twelve disciples. Judas was present with Jesus and the others as they traveled the roadways and the seaways visiting various parts of Judea and Samaria. Judas heard all the teachings of Jesus, and he even was the one appointed to keep track of the money that the group held in common for their needs as they traveled.

But as Jesus shared his last supper with the twelve, he said, “The hand of My betrayer is with Mine on the table” (Luke 22:21).

Of course, we do not know all of the thoughts of Judas during the three years when he walked along with Jesus and listened to his teachings, but if anyone has ever personified one who was attached to the vine but who was producing no fruit, it was he. As Judas listened to the teachings of Jesus, he benefited from the life of Jesus, but the life coming to him was wasted.

The prophet Jeremiah spoke of these kinds of people when he wrote:

“Hear this, O foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear. ‘Do you not fear Me?’ declares the LORD. ‘Do you not tremble before Me, the One who set the sand as the boundary for the sea, an enduring barrier it cannot cross?’” (Jeremiah 5:21-22 BSB)

Or as Jesus quoted the prophet Isaiah (6:9-10), “You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people’s heart has grown callous; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes” (Matthew 13:14-15 BSB).

These fruitless branches are deaf to the words of Jesus and blind to the light of life that he brings.

Bearing Fruit

The purpose of any disciple must be to bear fruit, just as the purpose of a branch on a vine is to produce grapes. That fruit cannot come merely by association with the vine. It cannot come if one has only a passing interest in the words of Jesus. Our life from Jesus cannot come to one who lives almost completely occupied by worldly affairs, and whose only connection to Jesus is to attend a church service once in a while. This is not the life of one who is abiding in Christ.

Fruit can only come when one abides in the vine. As Jesus put it as he taught the people, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.” Hunger and Thirst – the disciple of Jesus must draw his or her life-giving essence from Jesus. Those who do not, will not be able to produce fruit.

And what is the fruit that Jesus produces in us?

The Fruit of the Vine

Jesus might express this fruit as he did to a crowd of people who had come to listen to him teach. They are perhaps familiar words to you. Here is what he told them:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:2-10 BSB)

We commonly call these sayings of Jesus, the “beatitudes.” They are the blessings of Christ. These eight blessings, along with some other blessings mentioned by Jesus, are the fruit of the one who abides in Christ.

Here is more of what Jesus said: “Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil because of the Son of Man” (Luke 6:22 BSB). “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me” (Matthew 5:11 BSB).

Holy Proverbs

Sometimes these sayings of Jesus are looked upon and quoted as sort of “holy sayings,”—as if they are something to which we should aspire and not call into question. But when considering the fruits that come from abiding in Jesus, we might be wise to question them. If we do not make a conscious decision to follow these words, we will never manage to make ourselves follow them.

Do you actually want to be “poor in spirit?” Do you want to mourn? And just what does Jesus mean by being “meek?” It seems like if I were meek, I would constantly be pushed around by others who were not so meek.

Merciful? That seems better. We might like to be known as one who acts with mercy. It is the same with being pure in heart and being peacemakers.

But what about being persecuted? …Or having people hate us or having them insult us?

“Hmmm…Let Me Reconsider.”

As you read through these fruits that come from abiding in Christ, you might be wondering if you actually want some of these blessings of Christ. You may even be reconsidering if you want to remain connected to the vine. We call these the blessings of Christ, but do you really want this package of blessings—especially since the package contains some difficult ones?

If you have reservations, it may partially be because of a general misunderstanding or a change of definition of some of the words, such as the word “meek.” Meekness in the terms which Jesus is speaking does not mean “weakness.” It does not mean that we bow to every pressure on us by someone. It simply means those who are meek are not arrogant, selfish or obnoxious. The truly meek are those who are humble and gentle with others, and not constantly demanding one’s own way.

However, there is submissiveness involved with being meek. The follower of Jesus who is growing the fruit of the vine is submissive to the Vine Himself. We are obedient to Christ.

Rotting Fruit

Even though many may call themselves Christians, the primary reason some do not choose to grow these fruits from Jesus is found in his next words. After Jesus said, “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me,” he said this: “Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven.”

Frankly, the primary reason many Christians do not seek the fruit of Jesus in their lives is that they do not want to wait for their rewards to come in heaven. They want rewards in their living to come now! They want what the world calls “the good life.”

But Jesus would tell us that the “good life” of the world is a mirage. From a distance it may seem as if it offers everything one desires and will give complete satisfaction, but as one begins to approach what he sees as total satisfaction, the vision vanishes. We can never reach it. It is like that vision that a dying man in the desert may have of an oasis with shade trees and a pool of water. He drags his sun-beaten and parched body toward the mirage, only to find that the vision vanishes as he nears it.

In a similar manner, these are the visions of fulfillment that the world gives us. We finally manage to build our “dream house,” and for a while, we are so happy with it. But then after a few years, repairs begin to be required, and some of those features that we thought that we wanted, now seem like they are just things that require more upkeep and maintenance. That vision of total happiness has disappeared.

And we also begin to realize that this place that we aspired to is, after all, just a house. It is nothing more. It serves no greater purpose for us than if we lived in a much smaller and simpler place.

In this manner, complete contentment in this life remains elusive. The fruits of this world quickly spoil. From the very moment that they are achieved, they begin to go bad. All of us should have learned by this time that true and lasting contentment can never be found in this world.

Delayed Harvest

If we seek true satisfaction from our labors, if we are looking for true contentment, then we must look beyond what the world has to offer. This contentment can only come from producing fruit in our lives that does not go bad and does not spoil. It can only come from a fruit that endures.

This is the type of fruit that Jesus spoke of when he told his disciples, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will remain” (John 15:16).

This is also the type of fruit that the Apostle Paul meant when he wrote to one of his churches that he was praying for them. He told them that his prayer was:

So that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God. Also that you are being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might, so that you may have full endurance and patience, and that you may joyfully give thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. (Colossians 1:10-12).

And what are those “fruits of good work” that Paul speaks about? He has his own listing—his own beatitudes, if you will. He also writes this:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23 BSB)

Breaking No Law

Interesting, isn’t it, that in listing these fruits, he says that against these things “there is no law.” What does he mean by that?

Of course there would be no law in any country against these things, but Paul is not referring to civil law here. He is referring to the law of God. Along with the several other purposes for the law of God, its main objective is ultimately to banish all that is opposed, or which would bring corruption to God’s kingdom. There is to be no unrighteousness in the rule of the Lord.

The unrighteousness and corrupting influence are those empty promises of this earth that will not endure in eternity. These could never endure. They are fleeting mirages and rotting fruits.

The fruits that Jesus spoke of are not of this variety. Neither are the ones listed by Paul. Paul speaks of the same type of fruit as does Jesus—fruits of our life that will endure, even after our bodies die. These are fruits that can only be grown by those who, as he says, “belong to Christ Jesus.”

And as Jesus says, these are fruits that cannot be grown by one who is an insincere follower of Jesus, but only by his friends. “I have called you friends, because everything I have learned from My Father I have made known to you” (John 15:15).

Learning to Die

But there is something else that is interesting in the way that Paul lists his “fruits of the Spirit.” Paul also speaks of a death that must take place before a Christian can grow eternal fruit. But he is not talking about the crucifixion of Christ. Paul writes:

I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me…Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us walk in step with the Spirit. (Galatians 2:20 NAS, 5:24-25 BSB)

What Paul is saying is that in order to produce fruit in the present life that will endure into eternity, we must first die. It is an enigmatic statement, and it is a truth that I think few Christians understand. I myself do not completely understand it. None of us understand fully.

But one thing that I have experienced in my now more than seventy years on this earth, it is taking me a lifetime of living to learn how to die. More precisely, it is taking me a lifetime of living to learn how to be crucified with Christ.

Galatians chapter two, verse twenty. Read that verse every day this week. Think about it. Memorize it. Meditate on it. This week, live your life as you learn to die.

TO SERVE THE CHURCH - THE LOG CHURCH SERMON, AUGUST 27

2023-09-21T19:46:00.002-05:00

Part One

For a great many years, I have worked with churches. I have served them in many capacities and in many ways. It has always been a great privilege for me to do so. I do not mean to say that it has always been easy, as any who are involved in some position in a church know by their own experience.

It has always been a privilege for me to work with churches, but I would be less than truthful to say that it has always been a pleasure. There are some hard times, and there are some frustrating times, but we should never lose sight of the fact that it is a great honor and privilege to be a servant of the church.

The Apostle Paul also worked with churches. As it is for us today, there were also some difficult times for Paul. In some of his writings, Paul breaks down his exterior and allows us to see his heart:

“I have been on frequent journeys,” he says, “in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren; I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure” (2 Corinthians 11:26-27 NAS).

These are hardships. These are things that any soldier must endure. I thought of these verses one night as I sat alone for long hours in an airport in Colombia waiting for the morning. I had just been robbed of my passport and most of my money.

“I have been on frequent journeys,” I said to the empty chairs surrounding me, “dangers, dangers, dangers.”

There is no diminishing the physical hardships that a worker in a church sometimes must endure. However, these are things that we can define and confront. But there are other things—things that are more difficult to describe and thus, more difficult to endure:

“Apart from such external things,” Paul continues, “there is the daily pressure upon me of concern for all the churches. Who is weak without my being weak? Who is led into sin without my intense concern?” (2 Corinthians 11:28-29 NAS).

Few really understand this level of concern. I do not think that I fully understand it. One could never understand what it is to be in real danger in the wilderness and from robbers unless he has also had to fear for his life. Neither could one understand what it is to hunger and thirst without food and lying sleepless in the cold and exposure without having been in that same situation. In the same way, neither can one understand this concern of Paul for the churches with whom he worked without having gone through it himself.

It is that feeling one has when he hears of a situation that is tearing a church apart. It is that feeling when the people of a church are living unfaithful lives. This is the “intense concern” for the churches. This is that weakness in your stomach and the weight you feel in your chest. This is true heartache.

How then, after saying what he did about the difficulties, could Paul also say this? “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake” (Colossians 1:24 NAS). How could he rejoice in the fact that he had to suffer for the sake of the church?

He could say it because Paul knew something that we often forget. He knew that no matter the nature of the suffering that he had to endure, his work was not in vain. He knew this, because he knew that the church is not just another organization like those of the world. The church is not a club or a social society with its list of spoken and unspoken expectations. We make a mistake when we liken the church to these things.

“Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake,” Paul says, “and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church” (Colossians 1:24 NAS).

Do we see that? Do we understand what it is to serve the church? Paul calls it the very body of Christ. This is a deep subject, and I acknowledge that I do not understand the full meaning of what he is saying. It is dangerous, of course, to take this too far and step into heresy, but neither should we diminish the impact of these words. In fact, Paul tells the church in Ephesus: “And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all” (Ephesians 1:22-23 NAS).

“I pray,” Paul says, “that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened” (Ephesians 1:18 NAS).

We have not yet seen the true glory of the church. Some years ago in this church, I preached a series of sermons based on Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. That book of the Bible is full of images of the church that we do not and cannot yet understand fully, but one thing we do know: Christ has chosen to work through the church and has prepared for his church wonders that enter into realms beyond description. The church is the very body of Christ, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

Do you see why I love to work with churches? We should not see a group of imperfect humans thrown together to try to hash things out in an attempt to make things work. We should not see the politics of trying to push through an agenda that one faction may have. Certainly we must admit these things are sometimes there. Nevertheless, there is something else. There is the beauty of the body of Christ.

To serve the church is as close as we are able to come on this earth to physically serving Christ himself. The church, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, is the presence of Christ on earth today.

That is why I have fallen in love with the church.

Part Two

We have seen how Paul’s letter to the Ephesians teaches us many things about the church. As we continue to read in his letter, Paul goes on further to develop the image that he gives us of the body of Christ. In some ways, what he says almost seems to be more than just a mere image—more than an analogy.

To a certain degree, it is somewhat understandable how the church could be called the “body of Christ.” The church does represent the physical presence of God in the world today. Christ is no longer on earth in a physical form, but as he promised when he was leaving, the Holy Spirit came to inhabit the lives of believers. It is through this indwelling of believers by the Holy Spirit that Christ is still present.

The life of Christ, then, is manifested in the life of each believer. We all, as individuals, in some way represent and reflect Jesus Christ. However, when Paul speaks of the “fullness” of Christ, it is in relation to the church. Christ gives different ministries and gifts of service to individual believers, and it is when these are used in harmony with others do we see the fullness of Christ in the church.

And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. Ephesians 4:11-13 (NAS)

This follows the theme of the body. Paul speaks elsewhere of the need of every part of a body to function as a complete organism (1 Corinthians 12). Just as our own physical bodies need every part: eyes and ears, hands and feet, to perform fully, so each member of the body of Christ must fulfill his role in order for the fullness of Christ to be manifested. Also, just as our physical body matures and develops, the church must also grow in maturity.

…Speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. Ephesians 4:15-16 (NAS)

From these words, we see how the church is to operate. By understanding how the church as the body of Christ shares some similarities with our own physical bodies, we can gain some understanding into the body of Christ. These are good things to study and good things to apply to the church. Using and studying these applications leads us to understand how the church should function, just as studying physiology gives us an understanding on how our human bodies function.

However, as we have mentioned before, merely knowing how the body of Christ is to function is not adequate to further our appreciation for how the body is to grow in its understanding of God. We are missing the greater wonder.

Paul uses yet another image to give us a clearer understanding of the relationship between Christ and the church. This image involves the most intimate of family relationships—that of a husband with his wife.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her; that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she should be holy and blameless. Ephesians 5:25-27 (NAS)

We often discuss these verses concerning their relevance to our own family life and use them as an example of how we, as husbands, should love our wives. Again, these are important applications of these verses, but if we take them only that far, we are missing a great deal.

By seeing how Christ loves the church, we can indeed better learn to love our wives, but we must also see if we can better understand this love of God for his church. We must try to come to a deeper appreciation of this love. If we can better understand the depth of Christ’s love, we should also come to love the church more.

Paul gives us a little idea of the depth of the love of Christ for his church by something that he said in the beginning of his letter to the Ephesian church: “…Just as He chose us before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him” (Ephesians 1:4 NAS).

As you can see, in our viewing the several aspects of the church, we have come full circle. What we are saying now is a reconsideration of what we had said in the beginning. Despite all that we have read about the church, we must still say that there is more in this image of the church than we are able to understand. We do not know how it was possible for Christ to choose the church before the very foundations of the world were laid. From our knowledge, we, as the people of God, were not yet even in existence at that time. Yet that is what is said.

I think I am not being trite and disrespectful when I say it was at that time, before the foundation of the world, when Christ fell in love with the church, even before we were a church. I think I am not being irreverent when I compare it to the time when I first saw my wife, even before I had formally met her. I will not say that it was at that time that I chose her, or even that it was love at first sight, as we sometimes hear.

Nonetheless, when I saw this young lady who would one day be my wife, something stirred within me. I think that when Christ first saw the church, something stirred within him. Before the world had its foundations, Christ chose the church.

What Christ had in mind when he chose the church will astound us: “…That He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she should be holy and blameless” (Ephesians 5:27 NAS).

Twice in this book of Ephesians, in referring to the church or the people of the church, Paul uses the phrase “that she should be holy and blameless.” In practice, we of the church often look upon this as a goal we should seek to attain. It is a worthy goal, but by thinking that we will reach this through our own efforts, we do not go far enough.

We need to understand that this perfection is not something to which we are able to accomplish in ourselves. It is something that Christ means to do in us and that he will achieve in us once we put ourselves in his hands. Jesus Christ loves his church. He has worked for our good, and he alone sees what his church will become.

Christ has fallen in love with the church.

Part Three

“For this reason,” Paul writes, “a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall be joined to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh” (Ephesians 5:31 NAS).

I have long pondered over what it means to “become one flesh.” It is difficult to understand. Indeed, as we have seen, Paul himself says, “This mystery is great.”

A husband, Paul says, ought to love his own wife as his own body. For a man to love his wife is to love himself. In doing this, a husband nourishes and cherishes his own flesh, just as Christ nourishes and cherishes the church. We do this because we are members of his body (Ephesians 5:28-30).

I have thought much about my relationship with my wife, the same lady who first made my heart stir and whom I still love greatly. However, I know that the love I have for my Vivian falls far short of the love that Christ has for his church. Nevertheless, this is the most perfect picture we have of this love. As inadequate as it is, there must be something here that we can learn. I must admit that I do not think that I have come to even the most basic understanding of this love, but the best that I understand I will share with you now.

To “become one flesh,” must involve, before anything else, a matter of completeness. So united is this bond of marriage that it simply cannot be severed. Such is the sadness in the church today when we so readily accept the option of divorce. I know that there are harsh realities in our world today, and it is not my purpose to shift the subject of this sermon into what might be the acceptable conditions for divorce.

However, I do wish to say that the easy acceptance we have given to divorce in the church has all but destroyed our ability to understand the love of Christ for his church. We have almost lost the ability to see that it is impossible for Christ to divorce himself from the church. The bond is simply too strong.

“For this cause,” Paul says, “a man should leave his father and his mother and hold fast unto his wife.” The two form a new union—they become one flesh.

For what cause? What is the purpose of this new union? What is the reason Paul is speaking about? Is the cause so that there will be a happy marriage? Is it so there will be stability in the home and contented children?

These are all beneficial results of a husband holding fast unto his wife, but they are not the primary purpose that we are to take this union so seriously. The reason of which Paul is speaking is that which he mentions in the previous sentence: “Because we are members of His body” (Ephesians 5:30).

With this realization comes the beginning of understanding why God considers the union between husband and wife a holy covenant. “What God has joined, let no man separate” (Matthew 19:6).

It is true that we today see divorce permitted under certain circumstances—we recognize this fact. However, with that recognition we must also take into account this statement of Jesus: “Because of your hardness of heart, Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way” (Matthew 19:8 NAS).

To begin to understand the love that Christ has for the church, we must understand the holiness of the marriage union. When we see a man who loves his wife as he does his own body, it is because he realizes that they are no longer separate individuals. And when we see that man who realizes that in so doing, he is nourishing and cherishing even his own flesh, it is only then we can begin to see the depth of love Christ has for the church.

As a husband, I will not endure anyone who would criticize my beloved wife. Any threat to her would be met by my strong challenge. In the same way, let us be very cautious in criticizing the church. I will not pretend that there is nothing in the church that we might criticize, but should we do so, let us realize that we are touching the beloved of Jesus Christ. If criticisms come, let them come with the same motive as Christ also has, “That He might present to Himself a church in all her glory, without any spot or wrinkle, or any such thing.”

On the other hand, let us realize that in serving the church, we are serving the beloved of Christ. This is the great honor that has been given to us. For me personally, it is an honor I hold in very high esteem. As I have said earlier, on this earth, it is the closest that I can come to serving Christ Himself.

Despite the difficulties and despite the dangers and heartache, Paul served the church out of the great love of Christ. For him it was an honor. May it equally be for us.

May we all learn to love the church of Jesus Christ.

Part Four

I am now going to speak quite frankly about our own Log Church. I am sure some of you will be offended by what I say and I am sorry about that, but if so, you might want to ask yourself why you are offended.

I do not think we in the Log Church have learned to love the church of Jesus Christ. We have treated our relationship to the church as we would any worldly organization. If we do not like or agree with something that our church is doing, we get angry and leave. Even though our church is a small one, I have seen it many times in my 8 years here.

“Somebody said something to me in church”—that family never returned.

“When I was young, I was offended by how the church treated me when I acted up”—that person has never again attended church.

“During Covid, our church bowed to government pressure and wore masks. I am not going to that church again!”

“During Covid, the people in our church took their masks off too soon during the pandemic. That was the last Sunday that I went to church!”

At the time when we in our church were talking about getting a video screen for the church, I heard from more than one person, “If we get that video, I am never coming back to church!”

We get angry about some incident, and then just leave. There is never any discussion, never any resolution, never any asking for forgiveness, or giving forgiveness. We simply get offended and leave.

In the past, when someone has left our church, I tell Vivian, “It’s the Tripoli way.”

Or we may not leave entirely, but we withdraw. We do not involve ourselves with the church as before and we come attend the services only on occasion. There are people in every church like this, but never before have I been involved with a church where such a high percentage of the people of the church attend maybe only once a month, or once every two months! Some we see only once or twice a year! Since I have been in this church, I have seen people who once were very regular attenders suddenly drop out completely for months at a time.

And now I am seeing it again. There are currently some very small differences of opinions in our church over certain issues that should be very minor ones, but about which some are responding in the “Tripoli way.”

“I do not like the music that the music committee is putting together for the new song book!”

“I am offended by what the garden committee is doing to the landscaping of the lawn!”

We get offended, and we leave. Or we may not leave entirely, but we come to church only on occasion and we withdraw. Like little children, we pout.

Shame on us! Do we not realize that we are spurning what God has established?

You may think that you are so spiritual that you do not need to attend the church services, but I have news for you—God has not chosen to establish His kingdom through you as an individual. He has chosen to establish His kingdom through the church!

“I will build my church,” Jesus said, “and the gates of hell will not prevail against it!”

If Jesus was with us in physical form, would you not serve Him? He is not here in this form, but he is here in what He calls His body – the church.

I will repeat this phrase that I mentioned earlier: On this earth, serving the ministry and needs of the church is the closest that I can come to serving Jesus Christ Himself.

Do you have no patience or time for the church? How then, do you expect that when all is complete that Jesus should have any patience or time for you? You may want to think about that the next time you have an unhealthy criticism of the church.

Instead, may we all learn to love the church of Jesus Christ as Jesus Himself loves the church. Take this to heart and live!